ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will take up the Al-Qadir Trust case involving former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife on June 5, marking the first hearing since the couple was sentenced over four months ago, the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said Thursday.
A Pakistani court sentenced Khan to 14 years and his wife, Bushra Bibi, to seven years in prison last January. The centers on allegations that they received land as a bribe from real estate tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain through their charitable foundation, the Al-Qadir Trust.
The trust, founded in 2018 while Khan was still in office, is accused by authorities of being used as a front for illegal benefits.
The PTI has long maintained the case lacks merit and repeatedly requested the high court to hear their petition to suspend the convictions. This is the first time the IHC has scheduled proceedings since the lower court verdict in January, which was delayed at least three times before being delivered.
“Al-Qadir Trust case is scheduled for hearing on June 5,” the PTI said in a statement during the day.
The hearing will be conducted by a two-member IHC bench led by acting Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif, according to the court’s cause list.
PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan, speaking to reporters outside the Supreme Court earlier this week, said the party had met with the chief justice to press for the case to be listed.
“Release [of Khan and his wife] will take place once the case is heard,” Gohar told reporters. “We still hope the case will be heard on June 5.”
The Al-Qadir case stems from £190 million that the UK repatriated to Pakistan in 2019 after the Pakistani real estate tycoon settled a British investigation into suspected criminal assets.
Authorities allege that instead of depositing the funds in Pakistan’s national treasury, Khan’s government used the money to help Hussain pay court-imposed fines in a separate case related to land acquired illegally in Karachi at below-market rates.
Khan, who has been in jail since August 2023 and is facing a slew of legal cases, says all charges against him are politically motivated.
He accuses Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the country’s powerful military of orchestrating the crackdown to sideline him, a claim both Sharif and military officials deny.
